Background

Thames Valley Science Park

The proposals for the Science Park were first promoted by the University of Reading alongside the wider proposals for development within the South of M4 Strategic Development Location, delivering new homes, facilities, infrastructure and employment.

This included outline (in principle) proposals for the development of a new science park, with an access road that would come from the new Eastern Relief Road. This was granted in 2010, on the condition that the new Science Park would have to use the Eastern Relief Road for an access, and therefore could only be occupied once the road had been completed.

With the new Eastern Relief Road close to completion, work has already started on the new Gateway Building, which will be ready for occupation in 2017.

The next stage was to set the wider principle of development for the remainder of the Science Park through an Outline Planning Application, which will look at how to strategically plan for the Science Park and what infrastructure will be needed to support it.

This Outline Application, approved in April 2017, delivers a further 600,000 sq ft of space in a range of flexible buildings, with the potential to provide, in total, up to 5,000 new jobs.

The development will now be progressed via a series of 'Reserved Matters' or detailed applications, identifying how new buildings will look and what they will accommodate within the principles set down by the outline application.